Over the last year, BMW built fourteen US market 328i RWD Tourings (F273100 through F273113, built between January and September 2012) and four 328d RWD Tourings (F775500-F775504, started in November 2012, with the fourth one as recently as January 31st, with two more planned). This virtually guarantees that BMW the manufacturer was ready to sell them to us. The just published MY2014 list, however, only shows xDrive versions of these cars. I can't think of any other reason for this absence but BMW NA rejecting them.

I live in Boston, but I never felt the need for an AWD vehicle, because my cars always wear season appropriate rubbers. I'm being forced to spend extra $2K for 200lbs of dead weight. Those bastards at NA HQ know full well that there is no alternative on the market, and people like me will still buy those cars. I'm angry.

On the other hand, I wonder if maybe a targeted letter/call campaign has a better chance of succeeding in this case, because the cars already exist.

Opinions?

The problem is that the wagon market itself is infinitesimally small here in the US. Add to that the fact that most of the buying public has been brainwashed into thinking they NEED AWD or they'll die. There's a significant cost associated with federalizing each configuration. It doesn't make fiscal sense to offer multiple flavors for such a miniscule market. I personally am holding out hope that they WILL bring over something RWD (and manual!) at some point, but I'm not going to hold my breath.